Fate's Pawn
by Missing White Wings 15
Summary: An assassin has been let loose. Raised by hatred. Tamed by love. What will Van do about a strange woman that has a mysterious aura about her? EDITED/CHANGED CONTENT
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **Well I have a standard disclaimer on my profile. Please refer to that but I will state that I only own my individual plot for this story.

**Author's Note: **I am revamping and changing things in this story

**Full Summary:** An assassin has been unconsciously let loose on the world. This assassin was raised knowing nothing but hatred, but would it be possible to be tamed by love? What will Van do about a strange woman that has dropped into his life with a mysterious aura about her? Is there some sort of relationship about to develop between the mysterious No Name (Nanashi) woman and the Fanelian King? One thing is for sure, the woman wants one thing: blood, blood for blood.

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**Prologue: How it Began**

The sound of pounding feet on the cobble stone road was all that could be heard at that late hour of the night. The citizens of the town just merely closed their shutters to block out the disturbance. They knew better than to try to get involved with the business of those people. No good ever came from getting involved.

"Get her! Don't let that wench get away!"

All she could do was run as fast as she could. She had to get as much distance as she could. The men that were chasing after her were getting closer to her than she wanted. Taking a sharp left turn she ran into one of the many alleyways of the crowded town. She came to an abrupt halt when all that she saw in front of her was the giant stone wall looming above her. She had let herself run blindly into a dead end!

"She went this way!" The voices of the men were even closer to her than before. She had to think of something fast. Looking behind her quickly she jumped onto the wall. Scrambling up the wall she jumped from the top, as soon as her feet touched the ground she broke out running again. The girl didn't stop sprinting until she suddenly crashed into something, or rather _someone_. As she fell to the ground she slowly looked up to see what it was that she had collided with.

"No…" Her bright eyes could only look up in horror as she saw who it was that she had run into. Frantically she tried to pick herself up off the cold ground and get away from the man standing before her.

"No, you aren't getting away again."

Just as she finally got her bearings and made to run he grabbed the hood of her black wool cloak. The man jerked her backwards and threw her back on the filthy cobblestones. Looming over her he put a boot on her chest to keep her down.

"You shouldn't have tried to run away from me little girl." He added more pressure to her sternum.

She glared up at the man above her with nothing but pure hatred in her eyes. She observed him carefully; he was nothing but a monster. There was his masculine, muscular, broad chest, the strong arms and the long powerful legs. Everything about him was built to hunt. She despised everything about him, but what she hated the most about him was covered with his black hood. His _eyes_, he possessed eyes that could look into your soul and find your darkest fear… and bring them to life. That was how he manipulated his men's obedience until their deaths. She saw him reach for something hidden beneath his black cloak. Listening carefully she could hear the distinct sound of metal scratching.

Putting his sword to her pale throat he pulled back his hood, he watched sadistically as her eyes watched in pure terror. "I will show you why you should never try to disobey me."

A scream escaped her young throat as she felt the cold steel pierce her side.

"I hope you rot in hell for your disobedience."

There was nothing that she could do as she saw darkness closing in on her.

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**Author's Note:** This is the edited prologue for Fate's Pawn, please leave a review if you would be so kind.


	2. Chapter One: Lost Hope, Found

**Author's Note: **This chapter has been dramatically edited and changed. Standard disclaimer applies.

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_**Chapter**__** One: Lost Hope, Found**_

Walking along the city streets a middle aged wolf woman was making her way home after a morning in the marketplace. The noises and smells of the city were heavy but as she passed one alleyway a horrible stench of blood struck her sensitive nostrils. She would have continued on her way is she didn't hear a small and almost non-existent moan. Following the direction of where she heard the moan of pain coming from, the woman walked further into the alley. Looking to her right she saw a dirty pile of cloth. It was then that she saw that there was a bloodied hand amongst the tattered cloth.

The wolf woman cautiously went over to the bundle; pulling on a piece of the tattered material she saw the body of a young boy inside the cloth. When she bent to check the body for a pulse she gasped as she felt the faint beat of her heart. The boy was still alive! The wolf woman carefully picked the boy up and started to carry him home.

Knocking on the wood door she waited almost impatiently for her husband to open the door to their inn. When he opened the door there was a look of shock on his gentle wolf face. "Cirana! What are you-"

Cirana cut off her husband's question as she walked passed him to get inside with the youth in her arms. "Zeon, please help me carry him to a bedroom, he needs our help."

Zeon snapped out of his shock and quickly took the boy from his wife's arms and carried him upstairs to one of the rooms. Once they got the young boy settled on a bed Cirana turned to her husband, "Go get me a bowl of water and some clean cloths." Once Zeon had closed the door behind him Cirana carefully took the dirty cloak off of the boy. She was careful to be as gentle as possible. Once the cloak was put aside she gently pulled the tunic off the boy. What she saw once the black tunic was gone was just one of the first of many surprises.

Zeon was taken by surprise when his wife pushed him back out the door when he brought back the items that she asked him for. "What?"

"She deserved _some_ discretion." Cirana placed her hands on her hips as Zeon just stared at her dumbfounded as the door was shut.

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It wasn't until almost two hours later that Cirana finally emerged from the bedroom wiping her face in exhaustion. Zeon was sitting in the hallway waiting for her. "Well? How is she, will she be alright?"

Cirana let out an exhausted sigh as she went to her husband. "She should hopefully pull through alright, I did the best that I could for her; the rest is up to her. I have never seen someone with wounds as severe as hers."

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Sight was the last sense that woke up from the deep darkness. There were hardly any sounds to be heard, but she could sense a presence nearby. Cracking her eyes open ever so slowly she could barely make out the figure of a woman standing beside her. She bolted upright in the bed when she realized just how close another person had physically gotten to her. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at the woman. "Who the hell are you?" Much to her annoyance the strange woman didn't answer her right away. The woman just pushed her back down onto the bed.

"You shouldn't rush getting up just yet. Your wounds still have not healed fully; I doubt that you want to be in pain all the time."

The young girl reluctantly let Cirana help lay her back down but she continued to glare and the wolf woman suspiciously, her instincts were running on overdrive. They told her to not trust anyone. "You have no idea what pain is, this is nothing."

Cirana observed her carefully; there was sympathy in her amber eyes. "What is your name?"

"I don't give my name." Her piercing eyes were boring into the older wolf woman, her glare slowly softened. She hated to admit it but she couldn't deny the fact that she didn't sense anything harmful coming from the woman. If she was going to kill her she wouldn't have taken the time to patch her up like she did. "I go by Nanashi. You never answered my question."

The wolf let out a gentle laugh. She was glad to see that Nanashi was opening up at least just a little bit. "My name, young one, is Cirana Onagata. I was the one that found you and brought you into our home." Cirana lifted up a tray and placed it softly on Nanashi's lap. On the tray was an array of fruits, bread and water. Cirana couldn't help but smiles as she saw Nanashi's surprised face. Walking away she closed the door behind her to give Nanashi some peace to eat her food.

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"She cannot stay here Cirana." Zeon was sitting down in the dining area of the inn that he and his wife owned. He couldn't understand why his wife was so attached to the girl that they had brought home late yesterday.

"The girl has no place to go; we can't just throw her back out onto the streets. Zeon, you know that I've always wanted a daughter."

"Ana, I just don't trust her. She has no full name, no family; we don't know who she really is. What had she done to deserve to be beaten half to death?"

Bless her heart; Cirana was still patient with her husband even though they had been arguing about what to do with Nanashi ever since she had first woken up. "Just give her some time my love."

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It wasn't until after a week had passed that Cirana would allow Nanashi to get out of bed. It was on one of her walks around the room that she took in the decorations. The room that she had been given was a modest one for sure. In the east corner was a small light wood dresser. Next to the bed was a small table with a candle placed on the surface. Going by how modest and plain the room was Nanashi concluded that they were simple wolf people. What she had immediately noted was that she had never heard the sound of any children running around.

"Oh so you are up! I thought you were still asleep." Cirana's sweet and motherly voice broke Nanashi out of her thoughts. She hid her irritation at the fact that the wolf woman was able to sneak up on her, no one was able to do that. As she placed the tray of food down on the bed she slowly walked over to her with a concerned look on her face. "Are you alright my dear?"

The wolf woman, Cirana's, intuition was startling to her. "Why is it that I have never heard any children?

A sad sigh escaped Cirana as Nanashi stated the obvious thing that was missing from her life. "Zeon and I do not have any children, they were all stillborn." Turning her head away from the bright eyed girl she tried to keep the moisture from her eyes, "I have always wanted a little girl."

The sadness that was in her voice broke through to Nanashi. Her observant eyes could see the sincerity and love emanating from the gray furred wolf. "I have wanted parents."

If she did not have such sensitive ears she most likely would have missed the soft whisper. Soft amber eyes met surprisingly bright and gentle emerald eyes.

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"Zeon, please just give her a chance." Cirana wanted to growl in frustration. She was yet again having another argument with her husband. Like all of the arguments preceding this one it was also about the mysterious Nanashi.

"No." Zeon was set in his answer. He did not want the girl to be staying with them any longer than necessary. In his mind her wounds were almost completely healed, so she should be on her own soon.

"Please Zeon. You know that we could use the help with the inn."

His wife was always persistent and honestly he knew that he couldn't truly deny her what she wanted. "I will allow her to be a waitress but nothing more than that." Zeon turned away from the situation quickly. What he wasn't expecting was that when he turned away from his now happier wife he came face to face with Nanashi. Zeon's eyes widened when he saw her blank eyes. It was then that he realized that his suspicions of her were accurate. "I am only giving you things chance because of Cirana." To his surprise she merely nodded her head humbly. "You can begin by cleaning all of the tables; dinner hour is coming."

As he started to walk over to the counter she quickly grabbed his left bicep. He didn't even have a chance to ask what she was doing before she spoke. "I know that you don't trust me. But… thank you. This is the most that anyone has ever done for me." Nanashi blinked quickly before either of the wolves would be able to see any emotion in her. "I will help however I can."

_**Two Years Later**_

Nanashi had been living with Zeon and Cirana for six months when had decided to close their inn and move to a more profitable and comfortable city. Zeon was surprised to see that Nanashi had kept her word, it had taken time but he gradually grew to like her. His wife had already come to view her as their daughter.

"Are you going to attend Nanashi?" Cirana was cleaning up the leftover food from the brunch that they had just had. The pub was vacant for the time being. All of the customers were currently in the town square for the ceremony.

Partially ignoring the persistent look that the grey Cirana was giving her she continued to wipe down the dining tables. Cirana was putting on her nicer shawl now that she had cleaned up the kitchen. "Going to what?"

A smirk played across Nanashi's face as she heard her mother figure growl at her. "Today is the prince's coronation ceremony."

Nanashi visibly grimaced at the mention of the prince. She had never liked the prince. "Is that spoiled little brat even good enough to be a king? Isn't he ten years old? One would think that the royal council would have enough common sense to keep someone that young and immature off of the throne." Nanashi made the mistake to turn her back to Cirana as the pub owner smacked the back of her head. "Ow!"

"The Prince will be eighteen. You do know that the two of you are the same age. In fact he is actually a few months older than you, eight to be exact." Cirana jabbed Nanashi in the side gently this time. Even though Nanashi had opened up a lot about herself, there were still several unknowns about her, such as why she seemed to hate royalty. "Well, are you going to go see your new king be crowned?"

Nanashi turned her brunette head up indignantly. "He is not my king."

Shaking her head Cirana turned away while murmuring to herself, "Even after two years…"

Nanashi had started to walk away to finish her chores but she stopped when her ears heard what was said. Her shining eyes were wide and alert. "What; what about two years?"

Pausing in her movements she turned to Nanashi with a soft sigh. "You have the ears of a wolf, you know that?" Nanashi couldn't help but smile at the compliment. Living with Cirana and Zeon was truly making her hearing even better than it had already been. "You have been living with us for two years now but yet you do not trust us enough to give us your real name."

Gentle emerald eyes looked at Cirana patiently. Taking in the sincerity and genuine love within the amber wolf eyes Nanashi smiled. Smiling was something that she rarely if ever did, except around Cirana and Zeon. "I will give you my name when I feel that the time is right, I promise Ana."

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Through the large crowd that had gathered in the town square no one noticed the person in the black cloak slinking by. Walking carefully like she had been trained to, she pulled at the money purse of a man to her right. It was with deft hands that she transferred the pouch's content into her own. She moved on once she replaced the man's pouch back to his waist. She spotted another easy mark not too far away from her. 'This is how you work a crowd.' As she transferred the man's coins she looked up when she felt that someone had their eyes on her. In the middle of the town square a young man clad in armor stood regally. He was standing quite patiently through his coronation ceremony. The prince's gaze was focused on only one thing. Her eyes widened when she realized that his focus was on her. Even through the large crowd he was watching her. He watched her as she picked the man's money pouch clean. Just as soon as she had made eye contact with him he turned his attention back to the councilor that was standing before him. Quickly she took the money and left.

Walking the back route to the inn and pub she passed by the city's orphanage. Discreetly she placed her leather satchel of money on the doorstep and knocked. She was already gone before the young woman opened the door. It was when she didn't see anyone before her that she looked down at her feet and saw the satchel. Picking it up she tried again to find who had left it. She watched as the woman looked around for the Good Samaritan. As the door to the orphanage closed the cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows. With a hidden smile on her face Nanashi walked back into the black alley.

Placing her hand on the door of the pub she paused. Quietly opening the door she walked in calmly. The pub section of the inn was a pleasant place to be in at this time of the day. There was hardly anyone there. Ana and Zeon were working in the back preparing food as usual. All of the square wooden tables in the dining room had four chairs next to them, all of which had been neatly cleaned up. The windows in the room were also spotless due to Cirana's persistence at staying clean. Looking towards the back she could see the open kitchen doors. She could already smell the sweet aroma of Cirana's cooking. She was admiring the wall tapestries when someone came up behind her. Turning around she came face-to-face with both Cirana and Zeon.

She smiled as she saw that the kind woman was in her normal dark blue apron. The apron was just as immaculate as the pub. Cirana was a wolf woman who liked to have things in perfect order. You would catch hell from her if you ever came into her home with mud on your boots. Nanashi had learned that lesson the hard way unfortunately. She had also learned that she had to work at earning Zeon's trust. Fortunately she found that she had gradually earned the silver wolf man's trust. Nanashi noticed that Zeon was just standing there smiling. 'He knows something that I don't…'

"You were up to no good again weren't you? Stealing from people?" Cirana always had a way of getting right to the point with Nanashi. While Cirana had managed to learn things about her, Nanashi had also learned a lot about her mother figure. She would never admit to the couple that she saw them as her parents.

Nanashi gave Cirana what she thought to be an innocent smile. "It is not stealing Ana. I'm just helping the wealthier make up their minds about their decision to donate some of their money to the orphanage. I'm simply giving their money, which they have too much of while the orphans have too little, and giving it to the people that actually need it." Nanashi had her all too familiar straight business face on. Unfortunately they only person that it didn't work on was Ana, occasionally Zeon. She could tell that Cirana knew that she wasn't telling all of the truth. She did keep a small portion of the money for herself.

Cirana just looked at Nanashi and gave a sigh of defeat. "What am I going to do with you?! You're hopeless, absolutely hopeless!" Cirana shook her head sadly. "Pathetic."

Nanashi smiled at her adopted mother's reaction. She always did this to Cirana. She and her husband Zeon were the only people that knew what she really did. One day Cirana had somehow managed to catch her taking money from a person in the market place. It was then that Nanashi had to confess and tell Zeon and Cirana that for most of her life she had been a thief. That was one of the only glimpses into what she did in the past that they ever got. She remembered that day very well, it had happened not too long after they had moved to their current home city.

_Cirana, Zeon, and Nanashi had gone out to the market for some food for the pub's pantry. Zeon and Cirana were busy selecting fruits while she walked away. She had spotted a man standing off to the side of a stand, not too far away. The man had been almost impatiently waiting for a young pink haired cat girl to make her selection and go. Carefully she went up to him. Stealthily she took his money pouch and emptied the contents. She made sure to place the now empty pouch back in its original place. The man would never know that she had moved it._

_It was without her knowing Cirana had turned around to look for her and saw her standing next to the tall muscular man taking and replacing his money pouch. When they had gotten home Zeon and Cirana made her explain everything. Nanashi told them what she could, carefully leaving out some certain details._

"Are you going to just continue to stand there or are you going to actually do some real work?" Cirana stood by a table with an apron in her hand. As soon as Cirana saw Nanashi smile she threw her the apron. "Remember to be pleasant."

"I always am."

Zeon and Cirana both chuckled heartily and went back to work.

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"Hey, Zeon! How 'bou some more ale!" A burly man in the corner of the room raised his mug to get the attention of the pub owner. He was already drunk.

It was still relatively early in the evening, the sun had not even fully set and there were already close to forty or fifty people gathered in the inn's pub. They were mostly men coming to get drunk and stay away from the wives whom they hated for their nagging. The other majority were citizens that were out to celebrate the coronation of their new king. Some of the men even looked like the thugs that she had dealt with in her short lifespan.

"More ale!" The same man was now pounding his empty mug on the table; he was quickly getting impatient with the wolf man who already had his hands full trying to take care of all of his other customers while his wife was busy in the kitchen cooking more food.

"Here you go sir," Nanashi quickly set his new full mug of fresh ale next to him while taking away the old one. As she turned away she discretely took some coin from him. No one in the _Green Dragon_ could or would ever suspect that the sweet, innocent looking waitress was stealing money from the rude pub customers.

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"Thank the gods that they're all gone!" Nanashi slumped into a nearby chair in sheer exhaustion. They were only open for close to six hours but they had been extremely busy and worked hard.

Cirana caressed Nanashi's soft hair gently as she passed by as she went to the pub doors to put their closed sign on the front. They were closing up the pub early tonight.

"Get some rest while you can." Zeon came out of the kitchen after placing the serving trays in the sink.

Nanashi quirked her eyebrow suspiciously, "What do you mean by that Zeon?"

"Tonight is His Majesty's coronation celebration within the palace gates."

"I'm not going," Nanashi was quite adamant about her decision.

"Nanashi, he is now your king. Remember, the celebration is going to be held at the royal palace, in the gardens. They've opened it up to the commoners now that the nobles have retired."

Nanashi was vigorously grinding her teeth. This was going to be a losing argument for her. It was hard for her to win against Zeon and Cirana, mainly Cirana. Sometimes Zeon would surprise her and take her side but more often than not he took Ana's side. "Fine! But I will never willingly call him my king."

"Please promise me Nanashi." Cirana knew that she wouldn't have to tell her daughter what she wanted her to promise.

"I promise Ana. I will be on my best behavior." Cirana kept making Nanashi promise not to do anything wrong. Zeon locked the pub up as they left since all three of them were going to be gone. Even with Nanashi's promise Cirana wasn't completely sure about bringing Nanashi with the. The celebration was going to be held in the royal palace gardens which Cirana knew would be a temptation for Nanashi to cause havoc. Nanashi irritated her when she spoke badly of the young king. She just hoped that Nanashi would keep her word on behaving herself.

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Of the whole royal palace the gardens were the most beautiful areas. There were four individual areas to the gardens. In the center, dividing the four different sections was a large fountain. Nanashi regrettably had to admit that it was extremely beautiful. The fountain had three tiers with water cascading down each one until it came to the bottom. At the top of the fountain was a marble statue of a woman. She had long hair and surprisingly she also had giant wings, which were spread behind her. The statue represented an ancient and extinct race. Nanashi glared at the perfect representation of the ancient ones. It had excellent detail down to every color and line in her beautiful and young looking face. Nanashi smiled knowing that that race was long dead. _Draconians_, the people of Atlantis.

Nanashi looked around at her surroundings. Cirana and Zeon were walking away, talking to each other and some of the other townspeople that they knew. _'It'll take them a while to realize that I'm not behind them. Time for a little exploration.'_ Nanashi turned towards the castle. Walking in the shadows she came up to the giant wooden doors. To her surprise there was only one guard by the doors. Sneaking behind him she opened the door quietly and closed it as soon as she had stepped into the palace. _'Wow… for being Fanelia's castle its empty. Someone could easily cause problems…'_ Nanashi pulled her hood over her head. Blending in completely with the darkness of the hall she took the left corridor.

Nanashi suddenly stopped next to a statue; she was able to hear footsteps coming towards her. Stepping next to the statue she stood as still as possible. A castle guard walked passed without noticing her hiding there. Coming out of the shadow of the statue she walked down to the end of the long corridor. She paused at a fork in the hall; she waited before turning to the left. As she turned the corner she saw another three guards coming her way. Looking around she quickly opened the nearest door and rushed in. Closing the door behind her she leaned against it and let out a sigh of relief.

Looking around the room slowly she realized that she had managed to walk into someone's bedchamber. From her initial glance it appeared that the room belonged to some important noble. Nanashi noticed that near one of the walls to the right was a large solid oak desk. Against another wall was a large and impressive dark wood armoire. What was the most noticeable and impressive about the room was the gigantic bed that was in the middle of the west wall across from the open balcony. In taking in the massive bed Nanashi realized that there was actually a person sleeping peacefully in the middle of the bed. She was about to turn around and leave when she heard a distinctive noise.

She could have sworn that she saw the red curtains move. Keeping her keen eyes on the curtains she saw the bottom of the curtain billow as if being carried by the wind. However, there was no wind tonight. She hoped that what she thought was happening wasn't true. Unfortunately fate was not always on your side when you wanted it to. Nanashi caught a glimpse of a dark figure standing hidden behind the curtain. He was dressed in black just like she was so he was able to blend in with the shadows of the room. The dark man was walking forward slowly.

He was walking towards the bed where the occupant was still sleeping peacefully. It was to Nanashi's horror that he reached into his cloak. From beneath his cloak he unsheathed a long narrow blade. Nanashi's eyes widened. The man came to the bedside and poised his blade ready to strike the person that was sleeping. Nanashi went to action without thinking.

To the man's surprise his blade was met by another. He looked up to see the other figure holding a blade against him. Grinding his teeth he pulled back his blade. Turning his full attention on Nanashi he lashed out with his silver steel blade. Nanashi was quicker than he had expected her to be. She was able to dodge his strike without much difficulty. Nanashi tried to strike back at him but he blocked her too easily. His block gave Nanashi exactly what she needed, an opening to his chest. She tried to slash him but he had realized all too soon what she planned. As she lunged her eyes widened as he blocked yet another one of her attacks, he moved to the right quickly.

Nanashi couldn't help but to let out a scream. The attacker suddenly pulled back when he heard movement from the side of them. The person that had been sleeping in the giant bed had woken up and jumped out of his bed at the sound of Nanashi's scream. When Nanashi directed her attention back to the attacker she found that he was gone and there wasn't even a single sign that he had been there in the first place. Clenching her right bicep she could feel the blood rapidly pouring from what was most likely a large gash in her arm.

"What the hell are you doing? I could have taken care of the situation myself; I knew that he was there the whole time."

The man that had been woken from what should have been a pleasant slumber was now standing angrily with a sword in his right hand. Nanashi tried to only glare at him even though she wanted to take her anger out on him. It was his fault that she was injured after all. "Is that how you show…" Nanashi's vision suddenly went black as the world closed around her.

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Voices were the first thing that she was able to start focusing on as her senses started to come back to her. There were at least two people near her; one was what sounded like an older man, although he didn't stay for very long. Not knowing if the voices were there to help her or not she kept as still as she could.

"She'll be okay; the healer said that the wound wasn't that bad. He said that she shouldn't move her arm that much though. What was she thinking? Why was she even here?" That voice belonged to what seemed to belong to a girl. From the pitch of her voice she was obviously a younger girl.

To her surprise a masculine voice spoke up in response to the girl's questions. "She was probably sneaking around trying to cause some sort of trouble. Why else would she be in _my_ room of all places? She must have been working with the other man. They were probably competing for the glory of assassinating me and bringing their commander my head on a silver platter." Nanashi immediately did not like the man. His voice was condescending. He didn't even know her and he was automatically assuming that she had been there to kill him!

There was only so much that her temper would allow her to take. "I don't know who that man was. I was only there by accident. I also certainly do not even know who _you_ are!" By this time Nanashi's eyes were wide open and she was already trying to get out of the bed. The young girl that she had heard earlier turned out to be a young pink haired cat girl with black stripes. The cat girl was trying to hold her down and get her back into the bed to rest.

The man that had been speaking about her earlier narrowed his garnet eyes at her. His left eye was almost completely covered by jet black unruly locks of hair. "By accident you say? I doubt that, you must have been there for a reason."

Nanashi pushed the cat girl away from her. She was fully pissed off at this dumb man that was accusing her of things that she had nothing to do with. "Look I have _no clue who you even are!_"

The man stepped up to her purposefully; he was now so close to her that she could feel his breath. "Van Fanel."

Emerald green eyes widened in complete surprise. That was the last name that she ever expected to hear him give. "_Van Fanel_? So you are the _boy_ that has become _king_? Pathetic, I thought that Ana was trying to make a fool out of me. A boy for a king! Is that what this sorry piece of shit of a country has lowered itself down to, allowing a mere boy to control the lives of so many innocent people?" Nanashi let out a cold and almost inhuman laugh. "I hope that they already have someone picked to be the next king, you're not going to last very long." Nanashi strode angrily towards the door, looking back at the young king and his companion she snarled and him and added snidely, "Fanelia will need a new king if last night was any omen for what is to come." Tugging the hood of her cloak over her head she quickly left the now suffocating room.

"Lord Van? Aren't you going to stop her? She shouldn't be able to get away with that!" Merle was already by Van's side clinging to his right arm.

"No, what's done is done. She can do what she wishes now. I will just be glad if I never see her again. Now, I have to go, I have a meeting to attend to." Van gently removed his adopted sister's hands from his arms and started to make his way to the council room for his afternoon meeting with his council members.

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"Stupid king! I hope that he gets his stupid, sorry pathetic ass killed! It would serve him right." Nanashi continued fuming about the young raven haired king until she came to the Dragon Pub. She opened the door and called out for her adopted parents, "Ana! Zeon! I'm ba-" She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that the dining room was practically destroyed. Immediately she knew that something wasn't right. Even for a pub, Zeon and Ana always kept it immaculate. "Ana?! Zeon?!" Nanashi ran into the room, looking around she tried to find Cirana and Zeon. "Cirana! Zeon! This isn't-" She stopped as she stepped in something wet, sticky and red.

Bending down she touched the liquid with her finger. She was afraid that she already knew what it was without actually examining it closer. As soon as she touched she began to hyperventilate. Looking at the floor carefully she saw that there was a lot of it covering the floor.

Blood… everywhere…

"Cirana! Zeon!" Nanashi ran towards the back of the room. To her horror she found Cirana sprawled on the floor with Zeon crumpled not too far away from her. Going to Zeon first she saw that he had a deep, large gash across his chest. She tried shaking him to get him up. "Zeon, wake up! Come on, get UP!" Laying her head down on his chest when he didn't make any movements she could feel the tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

"Na-…Nanashi…"

Nanashi bolted upright when she heard Cirana's failing voice calling her name softly. She moved over to the wolf woman quickly. Lifting Cirana's head gently she placed it on her lap. Nanashi was horrified. In the middle of Cirana's chest was a large hole. Nanashi swallowed and took a deep breath before speaking to her friend. "Who- who did this to you?" She could barely hold back her emotions anymore.

"A man… he came in asking for you…" Cirana tried to take a breath. The pain was etched clearly on her face. "Zeon- he wouldn't tell him… anything about you without- his name… We couldn't even see his face… his cloak hid… him… used some-kind of magic…"

"I should have been here. If I was then none of this would ever have happened. I'm-" Nanashi closed her eyes to hold back the tears that were threatening to overflow.

"No… not your fault… Nanashi…"

"Yes?" She looked down at Cirana as she pulled something from around her neck.

"I want you- to have… this…" Cirana put the necklace in Nanashi's hand and weakly made her close her hand around it. "I found it… on you when I first…found you… I know it- has something to do with your past…. Have it…" She took a short shaky breath.

Nanashi saw Cirana's eyes closing. She leaned down to Cirana's ear. "I-I promised that I'd give you my real name." Cirana's cloudy eyes looked back up at her, her life was slowly leaving her. "Hoshino, my name is Hoshino."

"So beautiful…we love you…" Cirana closed her eyes for the final time. Her hand fell from Nanashi's cheek.

"No! Cirana! You can't leave me!" She let down her wall completely. Tears fell freely down her pale cheeks. "I have nowhere to go…No one wants me… "

Hoshino picked up her head, clenching her fists as she remembered what Cirana had said. "A cloaked man…" She got up and ran out of the house. Hoshino knew that she didn't have anywhere to go but she kept running. She didn't care where she ran…

XXXXXXXXX

"You can't go in there! There's a private meeting going on in there!" The soldier couldn't hold her back. She just kept running she didn't know where she planned on going; she just let her instincts take the lead.

"You must sire. There is no other way." An old man was standing at the side of a large table along with eleven other men who were also nodding their heads in agreement.

All of the men that were present in the room, including the very bored looking young man who was seated at the head of the long table, turned their heads towards the great door when it suddenly burst open. What surprised the council members was that it was a young woman that was standing in the doorway bracing her body on both doors before she strode over to the man that claimed the seat at the head of the table who had stood up at the commotion of her running into the conference room. She only stopped when she stood in front of the young man.

"You have to help me!"

The man made a quick gesture to dismiss the older men from the room. They reluctantly filed out grumbling the whole way as they closed the heavy doors behind them.

"You must help me. Please…"

The man looked at her quite shocked at what she had just said. She was currently clinging to the front of his shirt sobbing. This cold-hearted woman was actually crying her eyes out onto his chest. "What happened? Why would someone like _you_ need _my_ help?" He asked her somewhat coldly. It was just earlier today she had practically killed him with her cruel words. She had made it clear that she held no love for him.

"She's dead! They… He… he killed both of them!" She completely broke down, she held onto him tighter as she felt that her world was crashing down on her.

"What are you taking about?"

She looked up at him. He could tell that she had been crying, even long before now. Despite himself he felt his heart wrench when he saw her eyes, red and swollen. _'Whoever died must have been close to her if she's crying like this.'_ "Some man killed Cirana and Zeon! He killed them mercilessly!" She buried her face in his informal soft cotton red sleeveless shirt.

He looked down at her dumbfounded. "Cirana…Zeon…dead?" He felt her start to shake violently. Without thinking, he rubbed her back, trying to comfort her. Cirana and Zeon Onagata had been members of Ruhm's clan that had moved to the city in order to run a pub.

"Please… help me… some man… murdered them… please…" She let her hold on him slacken. She thought, and expected, that she would hit the hard marble floor, but she was surprised to find that he had wrapped his strong arms around her and was holding her up securely. She felt a strange sensation move through her body. Her upbringing had made her know better than seeking help from anyone but her adopted parents had spoken so fondly of this man.. She looked back up at him, "Wi-…"

He silenced her by speaking. "I would help you… but I don't even know who you are…"

"I am Nanashi…Please… I will do anything…"

He raised his eyebrow suspiciously, "Nanashi? _No name_… I _will_ help you, but… only if you help me." He noticed that the girl, Nanashi, was staring at him questioningly. "There is someone that is out to kill me… and you stopped him at his latest attempt last night. In return for me helping you I want you to come with me to Asturia… as a personal guard."

Nanashi put her head down and buried it in his broad chest. She felt another sharp sensation go down her spine. She hated to do something this low. _But it needs to be done…_ "Alright."

King Van straightened his back confidently. "I am to leave in five days' time. I will have you shown to a room where you can stay until then." When she didn't move away from him he held her for a few moments longer until she was ready to stand on her own again. Once she pulled away from him completely he could tell that she had her barriers back up again. She swiped at her eyes, wiping away what was left of her tears. It was the only sign of her humanity.

Nanashi regrettably took one more slash at her pride, "I will help you whenever I can, _if_ you help me. I want to kill that monster for what he did to Zeon and Cirana. They, they were the only ones that would ever take me in, even when they knew." She stopped dead, why was she about to tell him her secret? She didn't even trust, let alone _know_ this man. He was contradicting all of her training and instincts.

What was behind this strange woman, "What was it that they knew?"

"Nothing," Nanashi pulled her cloak over her head. There was no way that she was going to show him anything else about her.

"Lord Van!" The cat girl from earlier that day came running in through the conference room doors and came to Van. "Lord Van? Your meeting is over already?"

"I dismissed them early." He was admittedly much more affectionate now that his sister was with him.

Merle gave him a confused look, "Why?"

Van just looked to his right. It was then that Merle noticed that there was another person there. A person disguised in a black cloak. "Who is that?" She hadn't even noticed that the other person had been in the room with them.

"My name's Nanashi Akira." She drew her cloak closer to her frail looking body.

Merle stared at her hard. "Nanashi? That sounds familiar…"

"She was with Cirana and Zeon Onagata."

Merle's crystal blue eyes widened with recognition. "Ana and Zeon!? That's it, you were the waitress there! I _do_ remember you. I've heard Ana say your name a few times. You were also found in Lord Van's room last night." Nanashi pulled her hood back slightly so that the siblings could see her pale face. Her eyes cast down to the floor at Merle's next innocent question, "How are they doing?" Her hood was pulled back over her face when there was a prickling feeling behind her eyes.

Van spoke up gently for her sensing her still fresh pain at the murders. "Merle, they were killed."

That was the last thing that Merle ever expected to hear. "Killed? What? Who could do such a thing?"

It was the quiet Nanashi that lashed out with an answer angrily, "By some damn heartless monster! He killed two innocent people… he wanted me for some reason…"

"Merle, could you go please find my council members and tell them that I will meet with them later." Van waited for Merle to leave before he turned his attention back to Nanashi. "When she comes back she will show you to a room." Van turned away and left her alone, he knew that she would need time to herself.

Nanashi leaned against the wall; she let herself become absorbed in her own thoughts. She bowed her head respectfully as she thought about Ana and Zeon. Her biggest regret was that she never told them that she actually loved them and that they saved her life by becoming like parents to her. With her black hood covering her face she didn't see Merle coming up to her. She slammer her fist against the stone wall remembering what Cirana had about who had done this to them. She kept her fist against the wall. "Maybe…"

"That's just like Lord Van." Nanashi was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the quiet voice of Merle coming from her left. "Lord Van wanted me to show you to a guest room," Merle motioned for Nanashi to follow her.

Following Merle down the lighted corridor slowly she couldn't help but keep thinking. There was something that she had said that bothered her. "Why did you say that I was on the same level as him?"

"Him," Merle stopped suddenly in confusion. "Oh! You mean Lord Van? Well what you did was the exact same thing that he would have done. The two of you seem to be more similar than you think. Here's your room," opening the door she stood off to the side to let the older girl examine the room. "I hope that you like it."

The older girl whistled; she was actually slightly impressed by the room's appearance. Granted it was nothing like Van's room but this was still wasn't anything to be ashamed of. "It's fine." Not that she was going to let the young cat know that she truly liked the room. She waited until Merle left to go find Lord Van again and closed the door and locked it. Sealed in the privacy of her room she allowed herself to collapse the floor sobbing. _Ana… Zeon…_

Hours later someone was knocking on her door but she just ignored it. She didn't want anyone to see how weak she was. All she wanted was to be alone right now.

XXXXXXXXX

"Nanashi! Open up!" Merle was pounding on Nanashi's guest room door where she had locked herself in. The young girl was actually surprised when Nanashi did open the door for her, although she had her face covered with her hood to hide her ghostly face and red eyes. "It's been a week already, are you going to always stay in your room? Why didn't you answer when Lord Van came all those times to check on you? He-"

"Wait! That was _him_ knocking all those times?"

That was the most emotion Merle had seen the older girl express, "Well, yes, he was concerned about you. He said that spending so much time grieving alone wasn't good for your health. Lord Van tried to postpone Ana and Zeon's funerals so that you could attend but they were buried four days ago."

"It's better that I wasn't there," Nanashi walked passed Merle who was simply gaping at her. "Well are we going to eat or not? I don't know my way around here after all." Merle gave her a bright smile and bounced in front of her to lead her to the dining room for breakfast.

In the dining room Merle and Nanashi found that there were other guests already seated at the long table eating breakfast. All of the table's occupants looked up when the two girls walked in together. The taller girl smirked as she saw that one noblewoman's jaw practically dropped as soon as her sharp hazel eyes settled on Nanashi and her common clothes. Merle nudged Nanashi in the ribs discretely, motioning that they were to sit near the head of the table. Merle walked forward and sat on Van's right, not caring about the stares of the nobles that were present. Quirking an eyebrow Nanashi saw that there was indeed an empty seat to Van's left. Nanashi set him a glare and sat as far away from him as possible, she may now know that he had been concerned about her but that didn't mean that she wanted to be that close to him.

The arrogant noblewoman that Nanashi had taken notice of when she first entered began to talk loudly to the nobleman across the table from her while she ate her breakfast. "I did not know that simple _commoners_ were allowed into the palace."

It seemed that the other nobles at her end of the table caught on to what the woman was trying to do and willingly joined in. "Your Majesty, does Fanelia not have better security than this?

Ignoring their rude and taunting comments Nanashi kept eating her eggs and biscuits. "How can we be expected to eat with such filth amongst us, Milord? Can't something be done to remove it?" From the corner of her eye she saw who it was that was currently speaking; it was no surprise that it was the first noblewoman. She was about to speak again when someone else managed to get a word in before her.

"Ma'am, would you please be silent long enough so that some of us can actually eat in peace?" The voice was quite charming and honorable.

Nanashi looked up to see who it was that the gentle voice belonged to. It was a young looking blond haired man. He was looking at her with his vibrant violet eyes; she had to look away quickly when she became unnerved by his constant stare.

"Why should we allow a commoner to be among us?"

That was the last straw for her, she set her fork and knife down as loudly as possible. The chair screeched loudly as she stood from the table and left the dining room. What she didn't know was that she had caught the attention of the brown eyed king. He stared after her even after she had managed to close the door quietly behind her.

"Well! That only proves that common filth have no manners either!" The red haired women stuck her nose up indignantly as a few other nobles agreed with her eagerly.

Van sent the woman a cold glare, "Lady Morica, I suggest that you wisely keep your mouth shut. You are speaking about matters that you have no comprehension of. That young woman is here for a reason. I will not tolerate the filth that has been coming out of your mouth to continue."

Lady Morica gave King Van an indignant look as he reprimanded her. "My lord, even if she does have a reason to be in the castle that does not mean that she should be eating with those of a higher class than her own. We have tolerated that _thing_ next to you but we cannot also tolerate _that_ kind of filth."

Merle had opened her mouth to say something to the _Lady_ Morica but Van stopped her by placing his hand on top of hers. Van's touch was as gentle as always but Merle knew that his temper had been pushed to its maximum. "_Madam!_ Insulting a guest of mine in my own castle is bad enough but don't you even _dare_ think of insulting _Lady_ Merle. Now get out! Don't you ever show yourself in my presence again _Lady_ Morica!" Van was already standing at his chair. Slamming his fist against the table he left the dining room angrily. Merle quickly got up to follow him knowing better than to stay with the stuck up nobles like Morica.

Van was clenching his fists as he walked through the hall. He didn't even take notice that Nanashi was standing against the wall watching him.

"I'm surprised that you are cable of caring about others," Nanashi was smiling smugly at him. For some reason she enjoyed trying to get a rise out of him.

Her soft voice brought Van out of his trance, "You heard?" All he got from her for the moment was a smirk.

"I only listened long enough to hear you tell off the hag." She was smirking evilly. "Hopefully that was enough to actually put her back in her place. Being told off by her young king must have been devastating."

Van laughed at her comment, "I hope that you're ready to go, we've put it off long enough." The vacant look on her face almost made him laugh again, "We had an agreement, and according to our agreement you are coming with me to Asturia."

Her jaw dropped. "Great." She wanted to hit her forehead in frustration as she now remembered that a week ago he had mentioned something about going with him to Asturia for some political reason. If she had answered the door earlier in the week she would have found out the travel schedule. "I'll go pack then, _Your Majesty_."

The girl's attitude had an unpredictable range and it was hard to predict which direction it was going to go and when. This time he could hear the sarcasm in her voice. He would never tolerate anyone else talking to him like that but for some reason coming from her it was refreshing. "Smart ass!" Nanashi kept walking as if she didn't even hear him and Van turned away to go pack his own things for the long trip.

XXXXXXXXX

"Milord, are you ready?" One of Van's four generals stood next to his king at the royal stables.

"In a moment," he was watching the entrance to the castle carefully; it was seconds later that Nanashi finally walked out the grand doors seconds later. "What took you so long?"

"Leave me alone _King_ Van," Nanashi then noticed the two generals that were at Van's side, "My apologies King Van, please forgive me for making you wait on my account." Feigning a bow and a smile the brunette masked her sarcasm in the presence of the generals.

Van just raised an eyebrow at her behavior, "Now that you're finally here, let's go." Mounting his black horse, Thunder, nimbly he grabbed the reigns of the pure white stallion that was standing obediently, "Nanashi." She could hear the commanding tone of his voice when he said her name.

Looking up at him she saw that Van was motioning to the white stallion that was next to his own horse. Nanashi smirked. Walking over to the stallion she jumped onto its back gracefully. She looked at Van. "Well, Your Majesty, shall we go?"

Van smiled when he heard her mimicking his own voice in the question that was truly more of a command.

Nanashi soon found that she had been strategically placed near the back, by the luggage cart. She shrugged it off casually. _'If that's how he wants to be then fine. Hmm… five guards… That's all? A party of eight altogether is not bad… for a little boy.'_

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**Ending Author's Note:** Please read and review. I would greatly appreciate it._  
_


	3. Chapter Two: Dreams

**Author's Note: **This is the edited chapter two of Fate's Pawn. Like the last two chapters this has changed content. Please read and review!

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**Chapter Two: Dreams**

_"__Mam… Mama help me!" A little child was crying out into the darkness of the lonely bedchamber. "Mama please help me!" The child heard her door opening. "Mama?"_

_Suddenly there was a loud clapping noise that reverberated through the silent room. The child's face was forcibly thrust to the right as the rough hand slapped her violently. "Don't call for that witch!"_

_"__Mama…Hel-" The older man hit the child again. The young child fell against the soft pillow that adorned the small bed._

_"__Shut up you brat! The witch is dead. Never say her name again." He hit the child once more then he left the room. He closed the door leaving the small child alone in the cold darkness of the depressing room._

_"Mama…"_

"Mama… why did I see that?" Watery eyes looked across the small campsite cautiously. A sigh of contentment escaped her lips when she observed that the seven other travelers were still sleeping soundly. The sun was slowly rising over in the east and that was the only logic that she needed for her next course of action. Rising from her sleep pallet slowly she walked over to one of the closest peaceful sleepers. As she stood over him she couldn't help but admire him. 'He almost looks like an innocent little boy… You'd never think that he's an asshole…' Nanashi leaned down over him slowly, trying not to accidently wake him up just yet. Looking closely at his peaceful face she smirked mischievously. When she leaned down closer to his tan face she allowed her nose to almost touch his. Her smirk widened to become a broad evil looking smile. Lowering her head further she let her nose lightly touch his, she ignored the small tingle in the tip of her nose as she gently blew on his face. He had moved slightly but there was no sign that he was going to wake that easily.

Nanashi took a deep breath and then, "_**WAKE UP!**_"

Van's garnet eyes snapped open as he bolted upright. "What!" He looked around and saw Nanashi as she sat down next to him. "What in the hell was that for?"

"Good morning to you too Asshole," Nanashi merely smiled smugly as she turned to him. "Didn't you say that you wanted to leave at dawn? Well the sun is already starting to rise."

Van only glared at her antics, they had already been traveling for three days and there was still close toa day and a half more to go until they reached Asturia. "Fine, get ready to leave in an hour." Standing up and stretching Van went to go wake up his still sleeping men, or at least those that had managed to sleep through Nanashi screaming in his right ear. The men that were traveling with him were his most trusted; they weren't too surprised by how their king was woken up. She had made it known that she was a mischievous one.

Walking away from the men at the main camp Nanashi tended to her horse. Reassembling her saddlebag she placed her left on her horse's neck. Stroking the stallion's neck she couldn't help but realize that she had always had a bond with animals. The beautiful horse nuzzled his nose into her side affectionately. _'A white horse… so pure unlike me… such irony…'_

"We're leaving!" Van's highest general, Balgus, brought Nanashi out of her reverie.

With a heavily bored sigh she easily pulled herself up onto her horse's back and settled into the leather saddle. It was only with a grimace that she nudged the horse's side and fell into line with the men. To her chagrin her designated place in the caravan was in the rear with the small cart that carried their extra provisions and blankets which couldn't be carried on the individual horses.

XXXXXXXXX

Hours later once the sun had hit high noon they were still riding. They still had at least a days ride ahead of them. '_Why the hell did I agree to do this?_'

Jerking her horse's reigns to an abrupt stop Nanashi visually scanned the area surrounding them. She was certain that she had heard someone scream in the distance. Her eyes were looking around frantically. 'Where…' She had almost given up after a few moments when she heard another scream reach her attentive ears once more. 'Over there!' Spurring her horse into motion she ran towards the forest on her right.

She rode until she eventually came to a small hidden clearing. The sight that greeted her made her gasp in horror. A young red haired woman was cornered against a tree. The poor woman had five large wolves closing in on her. Nanashi unsheathed her sword as she jumped off her horse and ran for the closest wolf. She was able to take the first wolf by surprise and slice it down its middle. The wolf hadn't even hit the ground dead before the rest of his pack turned on Nanashi. Two large black wolves simultaneously lunged for Nanashi. With a smirk Nanashi rammed her sword into the chest of one of the wolves but before she could pull the sword out the other wolf clamped his teeth into her upper right arm. "Argh! Son of a bitch!" She slammed her left fist between the wolf's golden eyes. Before it could recover from the shock of being punched she stabbed it with her sword. Suddenly Nanashi felt one of the other two forest wolves jump onto her back, biting into her right shoulder blade. She managed to use her left hand to get the creature off of her. Without her noticing the other wolf tackled her. She was caught off guard, the wolf's heavy body lurched her forward into a tree. Her head hit the tree as her body crumpled to the ground in a bloody heap.

XXXXXXXXX

"Milord," Eral called up to Van to get his attention. "The girl hasn't complained much lately."

Van sighed out of exasperation. "The only way she would be quiet would be if she wasn't even here…" Van turned around sharply. "_Nanashi!_ She's gone!"

"Majesty, we should just continue on without her." Juegah, a knight under Eral's command, spoke up this time.

"No I need to-" Suddenly Van heard a woman's scream and his blood ran cold. _'Nanashi…'_ Van kicked his horse hard in the side and rode through the underbrush of the forest. Fortunately Balgus wasn't that far behind him, who knew what sort of trouble that girl had gotten herself into. He pulled his horse's reigns in to stop Thunder's mad run and his eyes widened.

Nanashi was sprawled out beside a tree while two gigantic black forest wolves stalked towards her aiming for the kill. Another young woman wasn't too far away from her cowering against the same giant tree.

Van unsheathed his sword and quickly struck down the one of the wolves, from the corner of his eye he saw Balgus strike down the last wolf with his great-sword. Finding no more danger he then turned to the woman. "Are you alright?"

The terrified young red head was barely able to nod. "Thanks to her, she killed three of those wolves on her own. She was extremely brave."

Van merely nodded in acknowledgment of what she said about Nanashi. Making sure that the girl wasn't harmed other than being terrified he went to Nanashi. Crouching next to her he gently touched her left shoulder. All he received from her was a quiet moan. She was obviously unconscious; being as careful as possible he lifted her into his arms, making sure that her head was resting against his left shoulder. He looked down at her carefully; there was a lot of blood seeping through her right sleeve. "Why are you alone Miss?"

"Yukari Uchida. I was heading for Asturia when the wolves attacked me. Your friend there saved my life.

With a swift nod of his head the decision was made, "Lady Uchida, for your safety I must insist that you travel with my party. We will escort you to Asturia."

"Thank you," Yukari stayed close to Van as he settled Nanashi carefully on Thunder. She was thankful that her horse hadn't strayed that far during the wolf attack.

XXXXXXXXX

"Milord, Balgus, is everything alright?" Dungan let out a gasp. Van was carrying a bleeding Nanashi in his arms on his war horse; Balgus rode to their Lord's right side. The surprise was the strange woman that was riding a brown mare next to him while she also held onto the reigns of Nanashi's white stallion. "What happened?"

Balgus dismounted his steed and gently took the unconscious woman in his arms while his Lord dismounted. Once his feet were on the ground he took Nanashi back in his arms. He wasn't sure why but there was a pull of protectiveness over her.

"Lady Yukari was being attacked by wolves and Nanashi helped her. Unfortunately because Nanashi is such a hot headed irrational fool she got injured." Van placed her carefully on top of the luggage cart. Lifting her right sleeve he cleaned and bandaged her arm the best he could without proper supplies. Van hitched her horse to the cart after tending to the horse's stubborn rider. "Lady Yukari, my men and I will bring you safely to Asturia. As an assurance to you my name is King Van Fanel of Fanelia. I promise you that we will bring you there safely."

Yukari couldn't hide her amazement, "You're the Fanelian king?" When he had nodded Yukari curtsied as respectfully as she could. "It is an honor to meet you Your Majesty."

"For your safety you will be riding near the front with me." Van mounted his pitch-black stallion, Thunder.

"Forgive me Your Majesty but will that young woman be alright? She was seriously injured…" Yukari hesitated to mount her brown horse, Khile.

Van looked back at Nanashi; he had made sure that she would be as comfortable as possible as they rode. "Nanashi will be alright. Don't worry about her, she's strong. We should continue on our way though, if we want to be in Asturia as soon as possible. We might be able to make it there by nightfall." Yukari nodded and mounted her horse.

They had been riding for a couple of hours and the afternoon sun was already setting in the west when Yukari finally asked the question that had been on her mind ever since she had met them. "So who is she Your Majesty?"

"Please just call me Van." The formalities while on the road only frustrated Van.

Yukari smiled as she nodded her red head. "So is she Van? Is she your wife? Although she certainly isn't dressed like a queen should be."

"She's not my wife." The thought of being married to that strong-willed woman was almost appalling.

"Sister?"

"No." Van knew he probably should have just explained the situation but the questioning coming from Yukari was actually quite refreshing. It wasn't annoying like Nanashi could be, although he had to admit that he did enjoy the mysterious woman's company.

"Is she a relative? A cousin maybe? Or a niece? "

"She isn't a cousin or a niece."

Yukari smiled. "Well I hope she's not a daughter or a granddaughter." Van let out a laugh. "So if she's not your wife, is she your mistress?"

Van stopped laughing. "Oh, no."

Yukari smiled. "Well then is she your lover?"

"No!" Van quickly answered.

The red head looked at the Fanelian king confused. She wasn't anything important to him but then why was she traveling so far with him? "Then why is she with you? Who is she exactly?"

"Her name is Nanashi. She agreed to come with me so that she could get some help from me. I had made an agreement to help her if she were to help me." Van quickly glanced back at the prone Nanashi. He really couldn't tell if she was actually unconscious or just asleep. "In return I asked her to come with me as a personal guard."

Yukari simply nodded. "Well she seems to be able to take care of herself. She saved my life after all."

That innocent statement brought him back to the issue that he had wondered about when he and Balgus first came across her in that clearing. "What were you doing on your own?"

"I had to leave suddenly. I needed to see someone in Asturia."

XXXXXXXXX

Van and his company continued on in silence. Occasionally Van would glance back at Nanashi, even after ten hours she still hadn't shown any signs of waking up. Van stopped suddenly, he was staring at the sight in front of him, the border of Asturia. "We'll continue until we reach the royal palace." As grateful as he was to see Asturia so close he couldn't help but feel apprehensive.

XXXXXXXXX

"Halt! Who are you?" Two guards blocked their passage onto the royal grounds.

"I am King Van Slanzar de Fanel of Fanelia. I am here to meet with King Afeude."

The guards pulled back their spears and bowed. "Go right in Your Majesty." The guards didn't straighten themselves until everyone had passed.

Unbeknownst to everyone that was at the entrance there was a pair of cold blood red eyes watching them. Every movement and word was being noted for use later. The eyes disappeared after they saw the group enter the palace grounds.

XXXXXXXXX

"Ah! King Van it is an honor to meet you." King Afeude was sitting on his gold throne in the main hall.

All members of the royal travel party, except for Balgus, stayed kneeling while their Lord addressed the host country's king. Van walked up to King Afeude and bowed before him respectfully. "Please Your Majesty; a friend of mine is seriously injured and unconscious from an attack by forest wolves. May we please have some rooms and then discuss important matters?"

King Afeude's sea blue eyes rested on the girl that was in Balgus's strong arms. He smiled, "Yes. Mira, show them to their rooms." A young woman walked forward, stepping away from the wall she had been pressed against.

"Please follow me." She started to walk towards a long corridor that led to the south wing where the guest rooms were.

After a few minutes she stopped. "All of your rooms are here." She turned to Van. "This door here is your room, Your Majesty. Please forgive me Your Majesty but I did not know that there was going to be another person with you. I am afraid that the two young women will have to share a room."

Yukari gave Van a subtle nod when he looked to her briefly to see if she agreed with the sleeping arrangements. "That will be fine, thank you." Mira gave a curtsey and was about to leave when Van got her attention. "Could you please bring some supplies to dress my friend's wounds?"

"Yes, of course, Your Majesty," Curtseying again Mira left to go get the requested items while Van and Yukari went inside to get Nanashi settled.

"Lord Van?"

"Yes?" Van wasn't paying complete attention to Yukari as he carried Nanashi over to the bed that was the closest to the balcony window; with extreme care he placed her on top of the bed covers. Once she was settled he gave Yukari his attention.

"You really care about her don't you?" Unlike earlier when they had been still traveling there was no joking or teasing in her voice.

She was graced with a slight smile from Van. "She saved my life and I owe her that much." The smile on his lips widened as he recalled her temper the night that he had caught her in his room after she had stopped the assassin that had been after him.

Yukari laughed merrily, "Will she be okay?" The only response that she received was a nod. Just then there was a soft knock on the door, opening the door Yukari found Mira standing in the doorway patiently with a tray full of medical supplies in her arms. Yukari thanked Mira and took the tray from her. "Here you go Van. Do you want me to do it?" Yukari had placed the tray on the table that was between the two beds.

"Thank you, Lady Yukari but I will take care of her, she is my responsibility." Without saying anything more Van took one of the cloths and put it into the basin of cool water to soak. The ever present black cloak was Van's first priority to remove. Once the cloak was set aside Van was able to see that the sleeve of her black tunic was torn where the wolf had latched onto her. With care Van worked the tunic off of her torso. Taking the now soaked cloth from the basin he wrung out the extra water and with as gentle of a touch as possible wiped the cloth over the torn flesh of her arm and shoulder. Even in her sleep he noticed that she winced at the touch. Once all of the blood had been cleaned off he took some of the clean white slips of cloth that were used for bandages, gently he wrapped the cloths around her shoulder and arm tightly. Van picked up her shirt from the bed where he had set it, there was blood soaked through the entire right side of it. Standing up from his task he pulled the bed sheets from under the sleeping girl carefully and covered her up to her neck. "Lady Yukari, would you please look through her bag over there for a clean shirt."

Yukari had been sitting on her bed giving Van as much privacy as she could while he took care of the unconscious brunette. Walking to the other side of the room she opened Nanashi's brown bag and rummaged through it looking for a clean tunic for her. Finding one that she deemed good enough she went over to Nanashi. While Yukari was going through the bag Van discretely took his leave of the girls' room with the intention to go relax in his own before he had to go see King Afeude again. Her brown eyes widened when she realized that Van had actually cleaned her up and kept her shirt off. For a man he had somehow managed to take care of her without staring at her semi bare chest. Shifting Nanashi slightly she managed to slip the shirt onto Nanashi's lithe body. Yukari smiled down at Nanashi, putting the covers back over her she tucked her in to make sure she would be comfortable. Walking out of the room she closed the door quietly.

When she walked into the corridor she blindly walked right into Van's chest, "Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, Van." Noticing the worried expression on his face she placed a gentle comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry; I'm sure she'll be okay. She seems to be a very strong person, besides you did a great job with cleaning her up." Van smiled slightly at the compliment. "After all you were also the one who first told me that she would be okay." Nodding his head he turned to head towards the conference room where he was to meet with King Afeude, before he had gotten the chance to go into his guest room a servant had delivered the message that King Afeude wanted to see him.

"King Afeude wanted to talk to me tonight." Van looked back at her. "If you wish you can either stay with Nanashi or you can go to the library which is down the corridor on the left."

Yukari nodded gratefully. Walking the other way she went back into the room that she was going to be sharing with Nanashi for a while, at least until she was able to find the man that she had come to see.

XXXXXXXXX

The throne room was fortunately empty except for Asturia's king. Coming forward Van bowed and greeted his host, "King Afeude, you wished to see me?"

"Yes, I know that you must be tired but I think that it would be best if we started to discuss the events that have been happening as of late, especially those that have been happening in your own country."

"Your Majesty, someone has been after my life. There have been at least six attempts on my life so far and yet we have never been able to catch the assassins. My fri- guard that is traveling with me was fortunately present and able to stop the most recent attack. Unfortunately my guard was not able to see what the assassin looked like before he escaped. I do not know whether or not these attempts have any connection to the attacks that have been made on small villages that lie on my borders with Asturia and Krios. In either case we do not know who is behind any of these attacks."

The king remained knelt before the Asturian monarch. King Afeude nodded thoughtfully. "I assume then, Your Highness that your hope is that with a new treaty these attacks might be prevented?" He paused and saw Van look up and nod his head in affirmation, "I agree with you Your Majesty, but for now I suggest that you get some rest, you had a long journey. We will discuss this matter fully tomorrow when my council is also present. Good night King Van."

Van bowed respectfully. "Thank you King Afeude. Good night."

XXXXXXXXX

Van walked down the corridor to his room, pausing at his own door he looked towards the door to Nanashi and Yukari's room. With a sigh he turned away from his room and knocked gently on their door. He waited patiently until he heard the confirmation that he could enter. Quietly opening the door to the girls' room he was careful to try to not wake Nanashi if she was still asleep. Yukari was sitting on her bed reading a book that she could have possibly borrowed from the library. On the other bed Nanashi was still fast asleep. It was obvious that she was at least conscious now because she had turned to her left. There was something about her that made him just want to stare at her peaceful sleeping face. Not liking where his thoughts were taking him all of a sudden he directed his attention to Yukari who was discretely watching him and trying not to laugh at the young king.

"How is she?"

Yukari looked over at Nanashi in what was almost a motherly manner, "She hasn't woken up fully yes, but she does seem to be doing much better. I wouldn't be surprised if she woke up tomorrow morning." Yukari gave Van a reassuring smile sensing his worry, "You don't need to worry about her so much, I'm quite positive that she will be just fine."

Van nodded. "You're right, well good night Lady Yukari." Van turned to the door again.

"Don't you want to say good night to Nanashi?" A playful smile was on her lips as she teased the Fanelian king.

Van turned around suddenly. "_**What?**_" Van gawked at Yukari as she started to laugh.

The slight red hue on his cheeks was worth it to Yukari. "Good night Van. I'll tell you in the morning if Nanashi has woken up and how she's feeling."

Van nodded. "Thank you. Good night Lady Yukari."

Unknown to both parties a figure smirked in the shadows of the balcony. _'Master will be very pleased.'_ Still smirking the shadowy figure slinked away into the darkness of the night to go and report to their master what they had seen and learned that day.

XXXXXXXXX

Warm morning sunlight poured in through the exposed window shining down on a pair of eyelids that were reluctant to open and show themselves to the demanding light. With a groan two eyes opened slowly, not particularly caring for them to have the overly optimistic morning light shining down on them that simply insisted on doing so. The reluctant, sleeping person knew that once they woke up completely they would be facing many questions. All of which would be coming from only one person. _Asshole, an enemy yet an ally. Damn him._ If only his help wasn't actually needed. Damn him, damn him for being _needed_. She had never needed anyone, until now. Fully opening her green eyes she managed to focus her eyes on Yukari who was already dressed and sitting at a vanity brushing her long red hair. She set her brush down in front of the oval mirror and turned to Nanashi.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake. How do you feel? Is there anything that I can do or get for you?"

Nanashi snapped out of her trance once Yukari had spoken those few words to her. "I don't need help from anyone. Especially people I don't know!" Nanashi snapped rapidly at her. She regretted it almost instantly, the poor woman looked hurt. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I'm just not used to people helping me."

Yukari smiled a little bit, "It's alright, I understand. So how are you feeling today?"

Surprisingly Nanashi found that she couldn't help but smile a little, it was one of the rare smiles that she ever showed anyone. In all reality she couldn't even remember the last time that she thought that she could smile before she had met Cirana and Zeon. Unfortunately for Nanashi, Yukari's good mood was contagious. She didn't even know what had made her even want to apologize to an utter stranger that she had just happened to have saved from a hungry pack of wild wolves. "I feel fine. My arm and shoulder are sore but that's about it." She studied the girl that stood before her carefully. "Who exactly are you by the way?"

"Oh! I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Yukari. Your friend, Van, said I could travel with you since I was also on my way to Asturia. Right now he is probably in a meeting with King Afeude. He wanted to know how you are doing; he seemed to be really concerned about you."

Nanashi threw her covers back. "Of course he would. I am one of his damn guards after all. He just doesn't want to lose a guard. It isn't anything personal, I'm sure he doesn't really care." Sitting up she noticed that she was wearing a white silky all most see-through knee length nightgown. "How?-"

Her companion saw what Nanashi was surprised about. She gave the other girl that still sat on her bed with her legs hanging over the side a smile. "We had thought that you would have woken up yesterday so Van had me put a clean white shirt on you, but when you didn't wake up before nightfall I put you in a clean nightgown that I had."

"Then answer another question. Who did my bandages?" By now she had stood up, carefully looking at her right arm, which was nicely bandaged. There was a small red spot on her shoulder staining the white cloth.

"Van did."

"_**WHAT?**__" _Waking up and finding that someone had put her into a night gown was irritating enough as is but to hear that Van Fanel had dressed her wounds was enough to put her close to the edge.

"Van seemed to know what he was doing, more so than I would have. He didn't even look at you if that is what you are concerned about."

"That wasn't… I don't like people helping me, especially that Asshole."

Yukari laughed at the sour expression that she saw on Nanashi's face. "He does think highly of you, you know. I was worried that you wouldn't make it to Asturia with your wounds but he had told me that you were strong enough to pull through. During the ride though he did keep looking back at you when he thought no one would notice him, to make sure that you were alright."

Nanashi snorted. Walking over to her bag she pulled out her traditional black pants and brown tunic shirt. "How touching." She slipped out of the nightgown and put on her favorite clothes. "He doesn't really care. He is just making sure a guard of his doesn't die. It has nothing to do with any type of personal relationship between the two of us. He needs me and unfortunately I need him as well. We are just using each other for one another's own benefits."

"Are you sure that that is all you are in it for? There's no friendship between the two of you?" She knew that there was more to the relationship between the King and the girl, there had to be.

Nanashi slipped on her dark brown army style like boots. "No, I really don't care whether or not he lives or dies. Just as long as he doesn't die before I get what I want from him. He only needs to live long enough for me to get my revenge, then he can die and I won't have to help him because of a stupid agreement."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Once Yukari got over her initial fright she opened the door. She gasped slightly as she saw who was standing in her doorway. "Van! Good morning!" Yukari's smile quickly faded. Van stood in front of her perfectly still and glaring. "What's wrong?"

"Breakfast is ready."

Yukari stared after him as he left down the long corridor that led to the dining room. The tone of his voice had been extremely cold and she didn't understand why. "What…" Yukari felt someone come up to her. Nanashi stood next to Yukari as she was wondering about Van's strange behavior.

"Cone on Yukari, he said breakfast was ready." Nanashi wasn't affected in the least bit by Van's weird behavior towards Yukari. Yukari and Nanashi quickly caught up with Van before he got too far ahead of them.

Yukari gently placed her hand on his bare arm to get his attention, "Lord Van? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing Lady Yukari." Van gave her a fake smile. "I'm just worried about the meeting with King Afeude."

"Oh. Okay."

Nanashi stopped suddenly causing the other two to pause and stare at her in confusion. "Is breakfast to be held with the king and his nobles?"

Van looked back at her with a quirked black eyebrow, "Yes. Why are you worried about the king and his nobles being there at breakfast?"

She just gave him an obvious blank look. "I don't mix very well with royalty, in case you haven't noticed that on your own."

"Don't worry about it Nanashi, you would be sitting with me and Lord Van. So you shouldn't have any problems." Yukari's innocence was actually almost refreshing for Nanashi.

Nanashi raised her eyebrow, "Fine."

XXXXXXXXX

Van opened the doors to the dining hall and immediately everyone's eyes turned to the now opened doors. They focused their vision on the black-cloaked girl that was to Lord Van's right. Nanashi just stared at them back. Walking to the table Van pulled out chairs for Yukari and Nanashi. Yukari thanked him politely. Nanashi quickly looked around. "Thank you, Lord Van." She put on a fake voice and smile. Van glanced at her carefully before seating himself on her left.

"King Van, just who are these two lovely young ladies?"

Van looked up at King Afeude. "This is Lady Yukari, he has just recently joined us, and this is the Lady Nanashi."

"Why would you be traveling with a young woman if you are unmarried?"

Both Van and Nanashi's faces fell instantaneously. Thinking quickly Nanashi said the first thing that came to her to avoid controversy and conflict. "Lord Van and I are engaged to be married. I decided to go with him to get to know my future husband the best that I can for now. Lady Yukari is my best friend. She wanted to come with so once I'm married it won't be so hard for us to leave each other. We're almost like sisters after all."

Van looked at King Afeude to see if he accepted Nanashi's explanation as a cover up for everyone else in the room. Van knew that the King had only voiced the thoughts of the other royals that were present as any decent noble host would do. Van had explained everything to King Afeude, so he knew the truth of their situation. He was hoping that they wouldn't have to make up some strange lie about why Nanashi was traveling with him. He knew the laws prohibiting an unmarried king from traveling with an unmarried woman. It was strictly forbidden. Van also knew that it would not be taken well if he had said in front of the royals that were present that Nanashi was one of his guards that had come with him.

"Ah! I see. Well congratulations my Lord and Lady."

When no one was looking Nanashi glared at Van. "We need to talk."

XXXXXXXXX

Once breakfast was over Nanashi found Van walking to the meeting room and chose that moment to corner him and talk about their excuse. "Asshole! What the hell was that?"

Van didn't answer right away. Looking behind Nanashi his eyes widened slightly. Quickly he wrapped his arm around her slim waist and brought her close to him. Holding her as close as possible to him he whispered in her ear. "Just play along." Nanashi glared at him but realized that he wouldn't be doing this unless he was up to something. Reluctantly she put her arms around his neck. She had to try hard to not let a blush show from how close she was to his warm body. There was no need for him to know that he was actually starting to have an effect on her.

"Humph!" One of King Afeude's nobleman walked by them with a pompous air to their strut.

As soon as the noble had walked around the corner and was long gone Van let go of Nanashi as if she were a hot iron. "What did you want Lady Nanashi?"

"What the hell was that? First of all why was it important to know who _I_ am? Couldn't we have just admitted that I am simply one of your guards? Now I have to pretend that I am actually going to be _marrying you!_ Couldn't you have _denied_ it! I only said that because it was the only thing I could come up with on such short notice. WELL?" Nanashi waited for Van to answer her questions. "Answer me dammit!"

"King Afeude knows of our circumstances. It was those nobles and their wives that had to be lied to. It isn't acceptable for an unmarried king to me traveling with a young woman like I am. The fact that you are a personal guard isn't any better either. Do you see the situation now? I couldn't come up with something to say because I was hoping that that subject would just be left alone. They wouldn't understand it if I had said that you were one of my guards. They wouldn't think that is something that a young lady should be doing. Do you understand?"

Nanashi simply glared at him. "Fine." As she turned away from him she clenched her fists tightly to her sides preventing herself from punching him out of pent up frustration. "Don't you have a meeting to go to?" Her question almost came out as a hiss because she was clenching her teeth shut.

"Yes." Van walked the other way. "How's your arm and shoulder?"

Nanashi felt a blush come on when she remembered that Yukari had told her that Van had been the one to bandage and clean her injuries. She mentally screamed at herself for acting like a weak woman when she blushed at the memory. "It's fine. It'll heal quickly enough, I have had worse injuries."

"Nanashi!"

She turned back around to face him after she had taken a few deep breaths to calm herself down a little bit. "What?"

"King Afeude said that he wished for you to be present at today's meeting, considering you _are_ one of my guards." Nanashi nodded and walked back to him begrudgingly. Finding a temporary nonverbal truce they walked together to the Asturian conference room.


	4. Author's Note aka RANT

**NOTE:**

I got a review that says that my story sounds familiar if not the exact same as another story. To let everyone know I know one story that may seem like mine. Actually I should say mine is similar to that story. But I can guarantee everyone that I had read and fallen in love with that story. I believe the one that Taka Shira is talking about is the story _Thief of Hearts_ by Phantom Angel. If so I had gotten my idea from that story. But its been two years since I have actually read that story so I don't see how I could have identical lines. The lines that Taka Shira says are the exact same are coincidental. Never in my life have I looked upon plagiarism in a good light. At my school I got four hours of detention because my English teacher accused me of plagiarism when I didn't. so when someone accuses me of plagiarizing I take it personally. Now if some of the lines in my story seem similar to Phantom Angel's or any other author's story I apologize. I would hate it if people plagiarized stories off of me so don't think that I would do it to others. I have more respect for writer's than that. Phantom Angel's story was only an inspiration. Our stories will be completely different. Granted I know there will be some parallels but they will be different plots and different uses for characters.

On a lighter note, in the prologue the man that was chasing the girl was not Van. I'm too much of a Van lover to make him that cruel. As for it being a Dilandau thing….. that's an interesting concept that I never thought of………..


	5. Author's Note Two

I will be having a new chapter out in about a week or so. So please check it out when I have it updated. I got really pissed off when someone acused me of plagiarizing this story so I seriously put it on hold but I will be back soon with more of this story. So if you like it you really have to let me know. Otherwise I might seriously just delete it.

Missing White Wings


	6. note

I will be continuing with Fate's Pawn and my other stories. Thank God I'm on summer break now and also out of summer school.

Thank you so much for the encouraging reviews. Wolf of the raven and kirika the white wolf maiden, thank you for your most recent reviews. I would also like to thank: Serenitykalanias, ZanyQuipster, luna's (the moon) lady-love, pure hope, rightnow, and inda. Thank you for your encouraging reviews. I have to admit that it was really a blow to my pride when someone said that I plagiarized down to the sentences. I seriously almost trashed this story. But I'm sure that you guys have already read my rant so I won't continue to rant about it.

Kirika the white wolf maiden, you said to let you know if there was anything else that you could do for me. Well I hope you were serious about that because I was wondering if you could help me edit my story before I post chapters. I still need to start the next chapter, but I would love to have someone proof it before I put it up because sometimes when I get into it I make mistakes and don't catch it. Please drop me an e-mail if it would be even remotely possible for you to help me like this. I am in need of a BETA reader.

Hopefully I will be making a post sometime in the next week or so if I can come up with something…

MissingWhiteWings


	7. Chapter Three: Stomaching Guesses

**Author's Note: **This is the edited version of chapter three. Soon I'll be working on chapter four. Hopefully I'll have something ready in the next week or so. Fingers crossed. Please read and review

* * *

_**Chapter Three: Stomaching Guesses**_

"Welcome King Van, Lady Nanashi." King Afeude's deep voice greeted the pair as they came into the council room and gave a bow out of respect.

When Van and Nanashi finally made it to the council room they found that King Afeude was already there with all of his advisors present. Walking to the end of the table Van pulled out a chair for Nanashi, once seated Van took his place next to her. Looking around the room Nanashi tried to pick out suspicious face; satisfied that there didn't seem to be any shady men present Nanashi sat back in her chair, occasionally glancing at Van from the corner of her eye. Van actually seemed to be comfortable with his environment, unlike her. _'Well he should be used to this. He's been raised in this kind of thing. I've never associated with royalty.'_

"Now Your Majesty, prior to your arrival in Asturia you had sent a letter that contained… shall we say interesting information? I would like to discuss that letter and its contents before we come to any conclusion about a treaty."

Nanashi couldn't hold back a quirk of her right eyebrow. She didn't know that much about politics but to her that seemed like almost a bad start to negotiations. Whatever was in that letter that Van sent was obviously disturbing information if it already had King Afeude nervous even though the older man was doing a fairly good job at hiding his nervousness.

"You claim that there have been several assassination attempts made on your life, seven to be exact. Do you have any clues as to who is behind these attempts?"

"My council and I have only been able to come up with mere guesses. Unfortunately those guesses have been formulated from rumors and murmurings that have reached us through the merchants that do trade with our country." Van looked Afeude in the eyes confidently. "We believe that either Basram or Zaibach could be behind these attempts, or they could be working together."

Nanashi's eyes widened slightly. Why did the name Zaibach sound so familiar? _He_ never sent her there before. So why did it make her stomach turn? As if there was something that had happened there before…

"Merchants that have come through Fanelia have reported higher numbers in their trades with Basram and the Zaibach Empire."

One of Afeude's councilors snorted rudely, "That does not mean anything. All that signifies is that both the Zaibach Empire and Basram need more supplies than what they have already."

"The question at hand is why they would suddenly need more supplies and what sort of supplies they are acquiring."

If Van wasn't taught better when he was younger he would have smiled broadly as King Afeude voiced the same questions that he himself had been thinking. Giving a sidelong glance at Nanashi, Van was surprised to see that she was almost glaring at the council member that had spoken up earlier. '_She doesn't like him…_' Closing his eyes briefly Van resisted the urge to sigh heavily. '_Of course she doesn't… Most of these men would be looking down on her if they didn't already know that she was with me. As a royal guard she has to be suspicious…_'

"Your Majesty." The murmuring that had been going on amongst the various members of Afeude's council quieted down to silence as their king spoke. "I do hope that you realize how serious your accusations are."

Nodding his head solemnly Van looked at the older king, "I do."

"You realize the seriousness and yet you still accuse them of being behind the assassination attempts?"

"It is only a guess milord, and one that I am not entirely sure I wish to know the truth of."

"Zaibach is an ally of Asturia; however these attempts on your life do bring up questions…"

Nanashi's eyes widened as the realization of how grave Van's trip to Asturia truly was.


End file.
